


Stoplight

by cariboucat



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, remember kids always wear a seatbelt, traffic lights, unabashed staring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-05-10 07:11:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5576053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cariboucat/pseuds/cariboucat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kageyama takes Hinata out for a midnight drive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stoplight

“Did you see that last turn? The car was all like, ‘ _Guoooh_ — _Rieeeeek_!’” Hinata bounced excitedly in the passenger seat, turning this way and that to watch the scenery whip past from every window at once.

“Of course I did, dumbass. I’m the one driving.” Kageyama restrained himself from scolding Hinata further, instead concentrating on ensuring they’d both get home alive. It was his first time driving with a passenger that wasn’t his father, and his father had certainly never been so excited to supervise Kageyama that he was near-ricocheting off the windows.

Hinata turned sharply to catch a glimpse of something out his window, and ended up colliding with the glass with a _clunk_. He let out a short, surprised shout. Kageyama snorted.

The pitch-toned woods lining the highway gradually gave way to the lights of a small town up ahead. Most of the storefronts were darkened and only a few pedestrians were out, given the late hour. It was that awkward time of year again, the intermission between Christmas and New Year’s when all the lights and garlands of the holidays were still out in abundance, bordering one festive display after another. The manicured trees decorating the edges of the sidewalks were meticulously wrapped in strings of lights, twinkling boldly with no foliage to soften the glow.

“Oooh! Did you see that one?” Hinata pressed his face up against the glass of his window, fogging it with a steaming breath. He jumped up and twisted in his seat to watch as they passed by an elaborate Santa display.

“Sit still, dumbass! I can’t think when you’re jumping around and screaming like a little kid!” Kageyama tightened his grip on the steering wheel, slowing down a bit as the road narrowed and became dotted with crosswalks and parked cars.

“Sorry! The windows are all so pretty, and it’s just so cool, with the trees and all the lights like, _whoosh!_ ” Hinata swooped his hand out in front of him for emphasis. Kageyama shook his head and glanced over at Hinata with a stern look and scolding words on his tongue, but both fell away instantly.

Hinata was looking intently at another window display out his window, the colorful lights catching on the brilliant auburn of his hair, setting the flyaway strands ablaze with life and color. His face was alight with excitement, bright and alive and stretched in a wide grin. Tobio felt his chest tighten, his breath hitch. Hinata was _beautiful_. This absolute dumbass was taking in all the light and wonder of the sleepy town and shining it right back out, blazing like a little sun in the passenger seat of his darkened car.

Hinata’s light skin was flushed with a lively glow, a slight red tone spreading across his cheekbones and reflecting in the intense hazel of his eyes, growing brighter and brighter—

“Kageyama, look out!”

Tobio whipped his head around to face forward so fast his vision spun for a second. He slammed down on the brake, launching Hinata toward the windshield. The smaller boy was caught by his seatbelt, but winced as the stiff fabric jabbed into his neck.

He’d almost run a stoplight.

Kageyama's heart pounded painfully in his chest. His eyes were prickling and his throat was burning. He had been so enraptured with staring at the idiot next to him that he’d become an even bigger—and far more dangerous—idiot, himself.

He stayed stopped long after the light had changed. Even after the lone car they’d avoided had disappeared around a turn, he remained still as a statue, every muscle tensed and his foot cemented to the brake pedal. There were no cars behind him and only a handful of sparsely scattered pedestrians on the sidewalks. Kageyama waited as the panicked racing of his heart slowed to normal and the adrenaline prickling the back of his neck and shivering through his veins tapered off, leaving only a tense silence. Finally, Kageyama turned to the passenger seat to see Hinata staring down at his feet, hands still on the edges of his seat but his grip loosened.

“I’m s—”

“It’s fine.” Hinata’s voice scratched, interrupting. He coughed and continued. “You won’t do it again, right? So it’s fine.” His eyes flickered up to Kageyama’s face before returning to the window. He took a long breath and grinned, dispelling the tense stress of the moment. “So are we gonna sit here all night or are you gonna drive me home?”

Kageyama tore his gaze away from Hinata. He nodded and rolled his shoulders a couple times, trying to focus on loosening the muscles in his arms and legs enough to ease off the brake. After another moment, once he was sure it was safe, he edged the car forward and proceeded at a pace just below the speed limit.

As they approached the edge of the little town, the lights of the window displays and the garland-wrapped trees grew increasingly few and far between until they disappeared altogether. The moonlit darkness of the highway stretched for miles ahead of them, punctuated every few hundred meters by streetlights. As Kageyama merged back onto the highway, Hinata turned around in his seat to watch the red glow of the stoplights fade off into the distance.

**Author's Note:**

> "'Cause there we are again on that little town street.  
> You almost ran the red 'cause you were looking over me."


End file.
